| Abstract | The present study investigated the effects of number presentation format on imperception rates on a modified version of the Palm Form Recognition (PFR) Task of the Quick Neurological Screening Test-II. The moderator variables of preferred number writing style, age, and sex were explored. The sample consisted of parent volunteered eight to twelve year old students from the second, third, fourth, and fifth grades in two rural school districts in Pennsylvania. Ninety total participants were recruited for participation, forty-six of which were administered the modified version of the PFR Task under the one-stroke number presentation format and forty-four of which were administered the modified version of the PFR Task under the two-stroke number presentation format. Analyses for this study involved use of independent t-tests, Pearson correlation, Chi Square, and linear regression to examine differences in imperception rates based upon the independent and moderator variables. Results of the data analyses revealed no significant differences between the number of errors on the modified PFR task as a result of treatment condition. Age effects were confirmed statistically, indicating that errors decreased as age increased, regardless of treatment condition. No significant correlation was found to exist between sex and total errors on the modified PFR task. When assessing the moderating role of the match between preferred- and presented-number writing style for the numbers 4, 5, 8, and 9, no significant relationship was found collectively. However, further analyses of individual numbers 4, 5, 8, and 9 revealed a significant difference between variables that exceeded the probability of chance for total errors on 4 as a result of the match or mismatch between preferred- and presented-number writing style on 4. Finally, with regard to the multi-variable relationships of age/error rate/presentation format and age/error rate/match between preferred- and presented-number writing style, linear regression analyses revealed statistically significant, but clinically non-meaningful predictions between (1) age and total errors under the one-stroke treatment condition, (2) age, total errors, and match between preferred- and presented number writing style on 5, and (3) age, total errors, and no match between preferred- and presented number writing style on 8. |
